Ah'jo'gun is the Objibway word for bridge. The purpose of this project is to recruit under-represented minorities from 2-year community colleges into a 4- year program at UND and to provide educational opportunities leading to obtaining a bachelor's degree in the sciences. Because of the large number of tribal community colleges in the area, the minority targeted in this project will be Native Americans. Students with Associate's degrees will be recruited to attend UND in part because of need-based state tuition waivers and because part-time jobs will be provided in working laboratories wherein students ideally will establish strong personal ties with faculty while gaining skills.In turn, the scholastic preparation of the students at the community colleges will be enhanced by a visiting faculty member who will train students in introductory college level mathematics and time management. The Ah'jo'gun program will be administered by the minority Access to Research Careers Program at UND which provides support and counseling services. Students will work in research laboratories situated on campus including the Medical School. The primary purpose of this program is to provide and extend educational opportunity and scientific training to minorities such as Native Americans. This program is expected to complement already established minority programs available here at UND. In addition to providing an avenue to fulfill individual goals, this program is expected to produce future role model, provide early exposure to biomedical sciences and provide motivation and encouragement to future generations of scientists.
